Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist

Chapter 982: The Bait is Cast

The suffocating, musk-scented atmosphere of the Ice Heart Pavilion’s master chamber lingered heavily in the air, a stark and undeniable testament to the absolute subjugation that had transpired through the long hours of the night and morning. The twenty-three women of the Ice Heart Palace, once the proud, untouchable paragons of purity and emotional detachment within the Myriad Reefs Sea Region, were now nothing more than broken, trembling vessels. However, Wang Jian, the architect of their profound despair, possessed a mind that was as cold and calculating as it was infinitely depraved. With the flawless trap for the Mistress of the Golden-Scale Auction House now thoroughly formulated, the time for unchecked indulgence had temporarily passed. It was time to prepare the stage for the arrival of their highly dangerous, immensely wealthy guest.

Wang Jian stood in the center of the chamber, his pristine, scholarly white robes meticulously adjusted, completely masking the terrifying, demonic physique beneath. He looked down at the sprawling landscape of soft, very fair skin and voluptuous curves scattered across the snow-fox furs and the thick woven carpets. He simply could not have twenty-three naked, weeping women wandering aimlessly around the pavilion, their ruined states and traumatized auras ruining the carefully constructed illusion of a professional, highly secretive trade meeting.

"Hua Yimei. Chen Ying," Wang Jian’s voice cut through the soft, pathetic whimpers of the exhausted disciples, ringing with absolute, undeniable authority. "The time for rest is over. We have a Half-Step Nascent Soul expert arriving shortly. Clear this room. Move all the disciples, as well as the exhausted bodies of Elder Leng and Elder Han, into the deepest basement chamber of the pavilion. Leave no trace of their presence here."

Hua Yimei and Chen Ying, completely devoted and energized by the rich Stellar Qi they had received from their master, moved with immediate, lethal efficiency. They did not bother with gentleness.

"Up. All of you, up," Hua Yimei commanded, her voice dropping the seductive purr she used for Wang Jian and adopting the harsh, imperious tone of a ruthless taskmaster. She grabbed the nearest Foundation Establishment disciple by the arm, hauling her naked, shivering body off the floor.

The naked, beautiful disciples were herded out of the master chamber like compliant cattle. Stripped entirely of their heavy white robes, their dignity, and their sealed cultivation bases, they were incredibly vulnerable. They filed out into the cold, frost-covered corridors of the pavilion, their bare feet slapping against the freezing spirit-wood floorboards. Their sexy, curvaceous bodies shivered violently in the biting ambient air, their large breasts swaying heavily with every unsteady, humiliated step. They wrapped their arms around themselves, trying in vain to preserve some fraction of warmth and modesty, their pale blue eyes cast downward in utter defeat.

Chen Ying brought up the rear, her cold, dead eyes watching the procession with absolute detachment. She dragged the unconscious, thoroughly drained bodies of Elder Leng and Elder Han by their ankles, their once-proud forms sliding unceremoniously across the polished wood, adding to the sheer, visual degradation of the Ice Heart Palace’s legacy.

They descended the grand staircase, moving past the ground floor and pushing open the heavy, reinforced stone doors that led into the pavilion’s foundational depths. The deepest basement chamber was a spartan, windowless room carved from solid permafrost rock, originally designed as a high-security vault for the sect’s most volatile cold-attribute resources. Now, it would serve as their lightless prison.

The twenty-three naked beauties were herded inside. The cold radiating from the stone walls was absolute, biting deep into their unprotected, very fair skin. They huddled together instinctively in the center of the room, a massive, trembling pile of soft flesh seeking shared body heat, their sobs echoing off the unforgiving stone.

Once they were all inside the subterranean room, Wang Jian descended the stairs, his footsteps echoing with slow, deliberate menace. He stood at the threshold, his dark, starlit eyes sweeping over his newly acquired, completely subservient property. He did not need to issue crude threats of violence or lethal poison to ensure their compliance; the absolute crushing of their physical and spiritual pride had already accomplished that. They belonged to him entirely, and they knew it in the very marrow of their bones.

Wang Jian raised his right hand, his index finger glowing with an incredibly dense, concentrated point of pure, abyssal Stellar Demonic Qi. He turned toward the heavy, foot-thick iron door of the basement.

With swift, masterful strokes that showcased his terrifying comprehension of the laws of the universe, Wang Jian began to personally etch a series of complex, highly restrictive array formations directly onto the cold iron surface. The dark energy sizzled and burned into the metal, leaving deep, glowing black runic scars.

He drew the Absolute Silence Rune, an ancient, high-tier suppression matrix that completely devoured sound waves. He followed it immediately by weaving the Spiritual Lockdown Seal into the iron, creating a localized vacuum that severed any lingering connection to the ambient Qi of the world. He ensured that absolutely no sound, no cry of despair, and not a single, microscopic fluctuation of spiritual energy could escape the confines of the basement.

"You will remain here," Wang Jian stated simply, his voice echoing into the dark, cold room, carrying the absolute weight of a universal law. "You will wait in the dark. You will reflect upon your new existence. And when I am finished securing the Mistress of the Auction House, I will return to use you as my personal, slutty sex toilets."

None of the women dared to protest. They merely whimpered, pressing their naked, voluptuous bodies closer together, completely subservient to his dark will.

Wang Jian swung the heavy iron door shut. The loud, resounding CLANG finalized their isolation. The glowing black runes flared once, sealing the chamber in complete, suffocating darkness.

Back on the main floor, the pavilion had been entirely sanitized of any signs of the brutal subjugation. The broken floorboards from the battle had been mended by Wang Jian’s Wood attribute Qi, and the heavy scent of sex had been scrubbed from the air by a subtle, purifying wind array.

In the center of the main hall, Bing Yun stood shivering. She was still completely naked, her very fair skin marred by the faint, lingering bruises and the sheer, profound degradation she had experienced just hours prior. Her silver hair hung in messy strands, and her eyes held the hollow, broken emptiness of a woman who had lost absolutely everything.

Wang Jian walked toward her, carrying a neatly folded stack of her pristine, heavy white Ice Heart Palace robes, which he had retrieved from her confiscated spatial ring.

"Put these on," Wang Jian commanded, his tone calm but unyielding.

Bing Yun did not hesitate. Her pride was gone. She took the heavy silk garments with trembling hands and began to dress herself. She pulled the inner linings over her voluptuous figure, hiding her virgin pink pussy and her large breasts from the open air. The fabric, once a symbol of her pure, untouchable status, now felt like a suffocating shroud of hypocrisy against her corrupted flesh.

Wang Jian did not simply let her dress herself in peace. He stepped intimately close, invading her personal space. As she struggled to tie the complex inner sash around her waist, Wang Jian reached out, his large hands intentionally brushing aside the heavy silk collar.

He slipped his hands inside her robes, his palms completely enveloping her large, massive breasts.

Bing Yun gasped sharply, her body tensing as the lingering, demonic aphrodisiac within her blood responded instantly to his touch.

"Master..." she whispered, her voice a fragile, broken reed, her pale blue eyes fluttering closed.

"We must ensure you look exactly like the proud, aloof Elder of the Ice Heart Palace," Wang Jian murmured directly into her ear, entirely ignoring her distress. He squeezed her heavy breasts ruthlessly, kneading the soft flesh and pinching her pink nipples through the thin inner fabric until they formed hard, tight peaks. "Your appearance must be flawless. Not a single hair out of place. Not a single hint that you are currently dripping wet and aching for my dick beneath these pure white robes."

He leaned forward and bit down surprisingly hard on the soft, exposed flesh of her upper chest, just above the collarbone. He didn’t draw blood, but he left a distinct, throbbing red mark, a secret brand of his ownership hidden just beneath the high collar of her outer robes.

Surprisingly, Bing Yun did not fight him. The psychological shift within her shattered mind was complete. She had realized that resistance only brought unimaginable pain to her disciples. To save them from further torture, she had accepted her role. She would be his perfect, compliant tool.

"I... I understand, Master," Bing Yun breathed heavily, actively forcing herself to lean slightly into his touch, submitting to his fondling. "I will play the part perfectly. Shangguan Wan’er will not suspect a thing. I will lure her into the absolute center of the hall, directly over the primary gravity node you established."

Wang Jian smiled, genuinely pleased with her active participation. He released her large breasts, pulling the heavy white outer robes over her shoulders, meticulously adjusting the collar to hide his bite mark. He smoothed out her silver hair, arranging it so that it cascaded perfectly down her back, restoring the visual perfection of the Ice Fairy.

However, visual perfection and psychological compliance were not enough for a strategist of Wang Jian’s caliber. He required an absolute, unbreakable guarantee.

Before he stepped back, Wang Jian pressed his right palm flat against the center of Bing Yun’s chest, directly over her heart, hidden beneath the thick layers of silk.

He channeled a highly specialized, extremely volatile thread of his dark energy.

"Stellar Torment Seal," Wang Jian whispered.

Bing Yun gasped loudly as she felt a freezing, agonizing needle of dark Qi pierce directly through her flesh and wrap itself tightly around the actual muscle of her beating heart. It felt like a dormant, poisonous spider had just taken residence within her chest cavity, waiting for a single command to inject its lethal venom.

"Do not mistake my fondling for trust, Fairy Bing," Wang Jian whispered into her ear, his voice a chilling promise of absolute destruction. "This is a remote detonation seal. It is linked directly to my Divine Sense. If you try to warn her, if your Qi fluctuates with distress, if you give her a subtle hand signal, or if you speak a single word out of turn during the negotiation... I will detonate this seal. It will not kill you instantly. It will shatter your heart into a thousand pieces, leaving you in unimaginable, paralyzing agony for hours before your body finally expires."

Bing Yun nodded stiffly, her face paling significantly, though her hollow, dead eyes registered no surprise. She was completely broken to his will. "I will not fail you, Master. She will walk into the snare."

"Excellent," Wang Jian praised smoothly, stepping back and snapping his folding fan open.

The stage was set.

Wang Jian turned to his two loyal blades. "Hua Yimei. Chen Ying. Take your positions."

Hua Yimei and Chen Ying immediately blurred into motion. They utilized the highest-tier stealth techniques of the Stellar Demonic Meridian Scripture, concealing themselves entirely within the deep, unnatural shadows cast by the grand pillars of the main courtyard. They suppressed their breathing, stopped their heartbeats, and completely erased their spiritual auras. They became ghosts, silent and deadly, waiting for the signal to strike.

Wang Jian walked toward the back of the main hall. He took a seat behind an intricate, highly decorative privacy screen carved from translucent frost-jade. From this position, he was completely out of sight from anyone entering the front doors, but the lattice design afforded him a clear, unobstructed view of the courtyard and the main entrance. He sat comfortably, sipping a cup of lukewarm spirit tea, his Stellar Demonic Core humming in quiet, predatory anticipation. He was ready to spring the trap.

Outside, in the center of the pristine, eerily silent main courtyard, Bing Yun stood perfectly still. The cold, ambient air of the Ice Heart Pavilion swirled around her heavy white robes. To any outside observer, she looked like the epitome of righteous discipline. Inside, her soul was weeping a river of blood.

With a trembling, pale hand, Bing Yun reached into her sleeve and produced the high-grade jade communication talisman she had carved earlier.

She took a deep, steadying breath, forcing her shattered nerves into a semblance of calm. She reached deep into her sealed meridians, extracting the absolute last, microscopic drop of her specific, recognizable Ice Heart Palace Qi signature. She injected this authenticating energy directly into the jade.

The talisman flared with a brilliant, pale blue light. The intricate runes etched upon its surface spun rapidly, locking onto the specific spatial frequency of the private receiving array located within the Golden-Scale Auction House.

With a soft, chiming sound, the message was sent, vanishing into the spatial void, hurtling directly toward its incredibly powerful target.

Across the sprawling, floating metropolis of Azure Cloud City, within the absolute highest tier of the Golden-Scale Auction House, lay a lavish, gold-trimmed office that rivaled the throne room of a mortal emperor.

The walls were lined with shelves carved from rare profound-sea coral, displaying priceless artifacts, glowing beast cores, and sealed jade boxes containing herbs that could trigger wars between minor sects. The floor was covered in a massive, seamless carpet woven from the golden silk of the Heaven-Weaver Spider, a material so durable it could deflect a Foundation Establishment sword strike.

Sitting behind an expansive desk made of polished, deep-sea blackwood was the undisputed ruler of this economic empire: Shangguan Wan’er.

Suddenly, a specialized, highly secure communication array embedded within the surface of her desk flared to life. A soft, pale blue light pulsed rhythmically, indicating an incoming, high-priority message secured with a recognized, trusted Qi signature.

Shangguan Wan’er paused her review of the daily ledger. Her perfectly manicured fingers, adorned with rings containing spatial pockets larger than entire houses, hovered over the array. She tapped the center node.

The message played instantly, projecting Bing Yun’s voice directly into the secure office.

"Mistress Shangguan," Bing Yun’s voice echoed, sounding urgent, tight, and incredibly secretive. "I have acquired an Abyssal Star-Iron Vein during a highly classified deep-sea excavation. I wish to sell the exclusive mining rights and the coordinates immediately, in absolute secrecy. Come to the Ice Heart Pavilion tonight. Come alone with your most trusted guards. We must bypass the Alliance."

Shangguan Wan’er leaned back in her high-backed, velvet-cushioned chair. She listened to the message a second time, her sharp, predatory merchant instincts immediately piqued by the mention of such a legendary, strategically vital resource.

’An Abyssal Star-Iron Vein,’ Shangguan Wan’er thought, her mind instantly shifting into a high-speed calculation of logistics, profit margins, and regional power dynamics. ’Not just a chunk of ore. An entire, unmapped vein. The raw material required to forge the highest-tier spatial arrays and Earth-Grade weapons. If the Violet-Thunder Valley or the Heavenly Sword Sect got their hands on this, they would dominate the armaments market for the next century.’

She had absolutely no idea that the Ice Heart Pavilion had been compromised, or that a demonic predator from the Fragrance Melody Sect was currently sitting behind a jade screen, waiting to crush her.

Her reasoning was perfectly logical within the established rules of the cultivation world. The Ice Heart Palace was a staunchly righteous sect, and Bing Yun was a highly respected, albeit famously aloof, Elder. The prospect of an elaborate, deadly trap being laid by such a woman seemed not only highly unlikely, but practically impossible given their pristine reputation.

Furthermore, the desire to sell an Abyssal Star-Iron Vein secretly made perfect, absolute sense. The Myriad Reefs Alliance levied exorbitant, crippling taxes on the discovery of strategic resources, often seizing a massive percentage of the find under the guise of ’regional security and mutual defense’. Avoiding these taxes and selling directly to the most powerful auction house in the region was a common, highly lucrative practice among high-level cultivators who stumbled upon massive wealth.

Shangguan Wan’er smiled greedily. It was a beautiful, devastating smile that had sealed the doom of countless rival merchants. She calculated the astronomical, paradigm-shifting profit her auction house could make from securing the exclusive rights to such a rare, monopolistic item.

"A secret trade with the Ice Fairy," Shangguan Wan’er murmured to herself, tapping her luscious, red-painted lips with a golden stylus. "How utterly delightful."

She did not hesitate. Opportunities of this magnitude did not wait for the cautious.

She immediately reached out with her formidable, Half-Step Nascent Soul Divine Sense, bypassing the standard communication channels and directly contacting the barracks of her elite personal guard.

"Jin Da. Jin Er," she projected her voice into the minds of her two most trusted protectors. "Report to my office immediately. Fully armed."

Within seconds, the heavy double doors of her office opened silently. Two massive, towering men stepped inside, moving with the synchronized, lethal grace of apex predators. They were twin brothers, clad from head to toe in heavy, interlocking armor forged from actual Golden-Scale Dragon wyrm-hide, rendering them virtually immune to standard elemental attacks.

Both men radiated terrifying, oppressive auras. They were not mere Peak Core Formation experts; they had both touched the threshold of the next realm. They were Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm experts who specialized in combined, synergistic assault techniques, making them a force capable of rivaling a true Nascent Soul cultivator for a short duration.

"Mistress," the twins spoke in perfect unison, bowing deeply at the waist.

"We have a highly sensitive, exceptionally lucrative acquisition to make tonight," Shangguan Wan’er informed them, standing up from behind her massive desk. She deliberately chose not to inform the City Lord, the regional Alliance representatives, or even the rest of her senior auction house staff. She wanted to keep the negotiation completely, absolutely confidential to secure the best possible price and prevent any information leaks that could invite rival bids.

"Prepare my personal floating carriage," Shangguan Wan’er ordered her elite guards, her voice ringing with absolute authority. "We are visiting Fairy Bing at the temporary Ice Heart Pavilion. The meeting is highly classified."

"Understood, Mistress," Jin Da replied, his hand resting on the hilt of his massive, broad-bladed spirit sword.

Shangguan Wan’er quickly checked the contents of her primary spatial ring, ensuring she possessed enough liquid wealth—millions of high-grade spirit stones, several peak-tier Earth-Grade defensive artifacts, and a collection of extremely rare, highly sought-after pill recipes—to facilitate an immediate, upfront trade for the coordinates of an Abyssal Star-Iron Vein.

Confident in her preparations, her wealth, and her overwhelming personal power, the Mistress of the Golden-Scale Auction House stepped out of her office. She was completely, blissfully ignorant of the dark, inescapable web that had been spun around the Ice Heart Pavilion, and the demonic spider waiting patiently at its center.

She descended to the private, highly secured launch bay of the auction house and stepped into her luxurious, custom-built carriage.

The carriage was a masterpiece of magical engineering, shaped like an elongated, elegant golden dragon. It was powered by a captured, bound wind-spirit, allowing it to move with absolute silence and incredible speed.

The carriage lifted off the launch pad, smoothly merging into the designated VIP aerial lanes. It flew swiftly across the sprawling, illuminated expanse of Azure Cloud City, its golden scales reflecting the myriad lights of the metropolis below, heading directly toward the Seven-Star Obscurity Array that perfectly masked Wang Jian’s slaughterhouse.

The flight across the floating city was brief. The golden, dragon-shaped floating carriage descended smoothly through the chilled night air, landing with barely a whisper on the private, white-jade landing pad located directly in front of the Ice Heart Pavilion’s main gates.

The heavy, reinforced carriage doors glided open silently.

Shangguan Wan’er stepped out onto the jade pavement.

She was a woman of devastating, profoundly mature beauty, radiating an aura of immense wealth, absolute confidence, and overwhelming power. She was very, very sexy, possessing a figure that could start wars and ruin empires. She wore a breathtaking dress woven entirely from shimmering, golden spirit-silk that clung tightly to her exaggerated, hourglass figure like a second skin. The dress featured a daring, plunging neckline that boldly displayed the deep, luscious, creamy cleavage of her large, heavy breasts.

Her dark, lustrous hair was pinned up elegantly with several priceless, jeweled hairpins that doubled as defensive artifacts, leaving her long, slender neck exposed. Her eyes, painted with subtle, alluring cosmetics, held the sharp, cold, and endlessly calculating gleam of a master manipulator and the undisputed merchant queen of the sea region.

Flanking her immediately were her two elite guards, Jin Da and Jin Er. The massive men stepped out of the carriage, their heavy, golden-scaled armor clanking softly. Their Half-Step Nascent Soul auras rolled off their massive frames like approaching storm clouds, a clear and present warning to any foolish enough to approach their Mistress.

Shangguan Wan’er paused, looking up at the grand structure of the pavilion. From the outside, the Seven-Star Obscurity Array projected a flawless, seamless illusion. She saw the familiar white spirit-wood walls, the frost-covered roof, and the illusionary images of several low-level Ice Heart disciples standing guard at the main gates, their breaths misting in the cold air.

Everything looked exactly as it should. The illusion was absolute perfection.

"Wait here," Shangguan Wan’er told her two massive guards, her voice calm and authoritative. "Secure the perimeter of the carriage. If I am not out in exactly one hour, or if you sense an explosion of my Qi, breach the gates and tear this place down."

Jin Da frowned, his instincts, honed by decades of bloody, unpredictable combat, warring with his absolute obedience. "Mistress, we should accompany you inside. A trade of this magnitude, involving an Abyssal Star-Iron Vein... it is inherently dangerous, regardless of the seller’s reputation."

"Fairy Bing requested absolute secrecy," Shangguan Wan’er dismissed their concerns with a wave of her elegant, jewel-adorned hand. "She explicitly asked me to come alone for the final negotiation. I will not offend a potential seller of such a strategic resource by marching my heavily armed vanguard into her private sanctuary. Besides," she smiled, a confident, slightly arrogant smirk, "I am a Half-Step Nascent Soul cultivator. I am more than capable of handling a simple trade negotiation."

Confident in her own overwhelming power and the established, righteous reputation of her host, Shangguan Wan’er turned her back on her guards.

She stepped forward, the heels of her golden shoes clicking softly against the jade pavement. She passed directly through the illusionary forms of the guarding disciples, crossing the invisible, spatial threshold of the Seven-Star Obscurity Array.

The transition was instantaneous and profoundly jarring.

The moment she stepped fully inside the boundary, the ambient, constant noise of Azure Cloud City—the distant hum of arrays, the calls of night merchants, the rushing of the waterfalls—vanished completely. It was not just quiet; it was an absolute, suffocating, dead silence that instantly put her highly refined senses on edge.

’The Four-Quadrant Glacial Barrier is active,’ Shangguan Wan’er rationalized internally, though a tiny prickle of unease formed at the base of her neck. ’It is designed to block sound. She is taking the secrecy of this Abyssal Star-Iron Vein very seriously.’

She walked into the main courtyard, her golden dress shimmering in the dim light. She expected to see Bing Yun waiting for her with a pot of hot spirit tea, a welcoming smile, and perhaps a sealed jade box containing the coordinates of the vein.

Instead, she saw a scene that instantly shattered her expectations.

Bing Yun was standing perfectly, unnervingly stiff in the absolute center of the frost-covered courtyard. She was dressed in her heavy white robes, but her posture was entirely wrong. She wasn’t standing with the proud, aloof grace of the Ice Fairy. She was rigid, her shoulders hunched slightly.

And her face.

As Shangguan Wan’er approached, she saw Bing Yun’s face clearly. It was deathly pale, entirely drained of blood. But it was her eyes that sent a sudden, freezing jolt of pure alarm through the Merchant Queen’s veins. Bing Yun’s pale blue eyes were filled with a terrifying, hollow, bottomless despair. They were the eyes of a woman who was standing before the executioner’s block, begging silently for a swift death.

"Fairy Bing?" Shangguan Wan’er asked, her sexy, luscious lips pressing instantly into a thin, hard line.

Her formidable, Half-Step Nascent Soul senses, highly attuned to spatial fluctuations and hidden dangers, finally pierced through the superficial illusion of the courtyard. She didn’t feel the crisp, purifying cold of the Ice Heart Palace’s legacy array. Instead, she detected the incredibly dense, dark, suffocating array formations hidden meticulously beneath the floorboards and woven into the very fabric of the spatial pocket surrounding her.

’This is not the Four-Quadrant Glacial Barrier,’ Shangguan Wan’er realized with sudden, horrific clarity. ’This is a spatial lockdown. It is a trap.’

She spun around, her golden dress swirling around her legs, her Qi flaring to life, intending to instantly retreat back to the safety of her guards and the open sky.

Before Shangguan Wan’er could take a single step toward the gates, the heavy, reinforced spirit-wood doors of the pavilion slammed shut behind her with a resounding, thunderous BOOM.

The locking mechanisms engaged with a heavy, final clack. The spatial matrix of the Seven-Star Obscurity Array hardened instantly, sealing the sexy, immensely powerful Auctioneer entirely inside Wang Jian’s inescapable, meticulously crafted trap.